The last year has been something of a whirlwind for singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten.

She recorded her latest album, Tramp, in the garage studio of her producer, the National’s Aaron Dessner, all the while either sleeping in her car or on the floors and couches of human kindness. And since the album’s release last month on Jagjaguar Records, she’s become the center of attention: a profile in the New York Times’ Magazine, appearances on Jimmy Fallon’s show and NPR, and her first headlining tour, which kicked off at SXSW this week and hits Hollywood’s Avalon on Tuesday, March 20.

The 31-year-old eventually found time to settle down, renting out the top floor of a house in Brooklyn’s Ditmas Park, not far from Dessner’s garage. With its tree-lined streets, mix of aging brownstones and Victorian-styled houses, the neighborhood reminds her of Nutley, the suburban New Jersey town where she grew up. It’s also far enough from the hipster overload of Williamsburg to resist gentrification.

“I like having a home,” she says. “I like having a place to return to,” and for once “it feels really comfortable to be back in New York.”

Yet the pressures of being the focus of interest is never far away; she was doing rounds of interviews on a weekend afternoon when we spoke, and there was still packing to be done for her return to the vagabond life of a touring musician. It’s overwhelming, she admits, but also “really exiting,” especially since she’ll have a full band this time, something she’s never had before. (With luck they’ll find time to write together.)

That brings more responsibilities, but Van Etten says she’s ready to tackle them; it’s a long journey and it can only make the music better. There are times for running around and being without a home, and there are times you have to act “like an adult,” she says with a laugh. The trick is to learn to balance them.

That balance is part of what makes Tramp such a satisfying album. It has the persistent overcast of the National, but Van Etten’s voice, simultaneously pleading and accusatory, is placed amid compact but airy songs and tart, close harmonies that lend the music emotional urgency. Songs such as “Give Up” and the radio hit “Serpents” are perched on a knife’s edge, demanding action (or reaction); falling either way can cut deeply. There are no easy answers: the album’s final track, the understated “Joke or a Lie,” ends with an unresolved chord, a sonic “to be continued,” both the singer and listener left hanging.

While making the album, she sensed that she was “all over the place,” but Van Etten believes that’s part of the album’s strength. Dessner’s recording process may have also contributed to the mood. With both her and the National touring, time was at a premium, so Dessner told her not to make demos, just come in and record songs on the fly.

“It was a revolving door” at the studio: whoever happened to show up was drafted into the sessions, a cast that ultimately included members of the National, Wye Oak and the Walkmen, plus Beriut’s Zach Condon, who shares vocals on “We Are Fine.” That’s a lot of indie rock firepower, yet Van Etten more than holds her own.

That performance came at a cost, however: “I wasn’t healthy, my immune system was low, I was losing my voice all the time.” She was touring constantly in support of 2010’s Epic while spending all her free time writing and recording tracks that eventually became Tramp. “I never saw my friends, and I was beginning to feel like I didn’t have a life at all.”

The apartment was her reward for completing the album, and she expects the roots she’s put down to influence her work. She’s just not sure how. “I’ve started writing on the piano, doing more electronic things,” she says. Most importantly, she feels at peace. She’s unsure where that will take her, but she’s ready to find out.

Sharon Van Etten, with the War on Drugs opening, headlines Tuesday, March 20, at Avalon in Hollywood, 1735 N. Vine St. Tickets are $17.50. Call 800-745-3000 or visit Ticketmaster.

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